2009-11-07 Wal-Mart bans gay couple for NOT shoplifting
- when: 2009/11/07 (2009/11/07)
- author: Timothy Kincaid
- source: Box Turtle Bulletin
- topics: Walmart anti-gay US/MI presumption of guilt police
- URL: http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/2009/11/07/16449
- title: Wal-Mart bans gay couple for NOT shoplifting
- summary: A Walmart in Michigan bans a gay couple for life, after falsely accusing them of petty theft and having them arrested.
Excerpt
A gay couple – Joe Paolucci and Thomas Hitchcock – entered a Wal-Mart store in Niles, MI.
Employees at the [..] store accused Paolucci of shoplifting some Bic lighters. Although he produced the receipt, they refused to back down, insisting that the two men go to a "detention room". The employees, using vulgarities and hostility, frightened their special needs kids.
While Paolucci and Hitchcock attempted to calm their children down, the employees ordered them to enter a "detention room" for questioning. They understandably refused, and asked to speak to a manager. Shortly thereafter, a man apparently came up, said he was the manager, and then immediately left.
The couple then asked for store personnel to call the police. Deputies arrived within minutes, and without asking any further questions immediately handcuffed Paolucci and put him in the back of a squad car. They put Hitchcock in the back of another car and turned the children over to store personnel, who took them back to the "detention room".
The police eventually reviewed the security tapes and determined that Paolucci and Hitchcock had in fact done nothing wrong; the store responded by banning them for life for "being uncooperative".